application for somarium

[twinkle_toes]

[Player name] Val
[Age] 22
[Personal Journal] prefacing
[Other characters currently played] n/a

[Character name] Aang
[Age] (1)12
[Canon] Avatar: the Last Airbender
[Point in time taken from canon] Book 3, Episode 12: "The Firebending Masters"

[Background] Have a delicious wiki link!

[Personality]

“Air is the element of freedom.”
- Iroh to Zuko

There are two main things that have shaped Aang into the person he is today: his upbringing as a monk and airbender of the Southern Air Temple, and his duty, as Avatar, to face the Fire Nation and put a halt to the war that threatens to destroy the entire planet.

Of the four kingdoms, only the Air Nomad population consists entirely of benders. The driving force behind this is their spirituality, which is the basis of their entire culture. They seek to free themselves from the material ties that bind them to the world, and are a peace-loving people, who respect all life. Conflict and violence hold little to no place in their culture, and this is reflected in the airbending style, an art that relies heavily on evasion and defense rather than attack. All these principles are ones that have been instilled into Aang since the time of his birth, and they are the unchanging core of his personality.

For the most part, these principles lend themselves to positive traits. Aang is a boy who greatly respects his surroundings and the people around him. He is kind and gentle and supportive and really wants nothing more than to make friends with every single person he comes across, whether they be a lowly cart owner or the prince of the Fire Nation himself. He is a person to whom friendship means a lot – the world, in fact. He wants to make friends with everyone, and for everyone to make friends with each other, a trait that certain doesn't hinder his role as Avatar. It certainly doesn't hurt that he sees everyone in a very positive light and is inclined to see the best in everyone. Naturally trusting, Aang is very much a firm believer in the principle of innocent until proven guilty. And love, in all its forms, is something that comes easily to Aang and is about as natural as breathing. There is very, very little he won’t do for the people he loves, demonstrated when Aang gave up the chance to completely master the Avatar state in order to rescue Katara from danger. It didn't matter that it meant he would have one less resource against Firelord Ozai and that he would potentially be endangering the world. His friends are his world. And that’s a good thing, because he would not have been able to accomplish even a fraction of the things he has been tasked with without the support and love of his friends, both past and present.

But sometimes, the principles he has been taught, of following the path of least resistance and dodging attacks rather than facing them head on, means that he is ill-equipped to deal with hardships that he finds himself facing, more often than he’d like now that he has been tasked with the role of Avatar. Though he is getting far better at facing his fears, Aang is a person for whom running away has always been the easier choice. He ran after overhearing his separation from Gyatso, he ran away to the Fire Nation after the pressure of everyone believing in him became too much to handle, and he runs from his nightmares the days before the planned invasion. Even after he makes a promise to the invasion troops after the failed invasion of the Fire Nation palace that he will do what it takes to stop Ozai, he still can’t help but try and avoid the subject of preparing for his face-off with Ozai when Katara brings it up at the Western Air Temple. A lot of this is due to the fact that he is only 12 years old, psychologically, and in addition his peaceful upbringing has affected his actions in many ways. Aang is not a person who has completely mastered his emotions. Anything he feels will always be written on his face, and he finds it particularly difficult to hold back grief and anger. This, coupled with the fact that he has the weight of having to save the entire world on his shoulders, means that he often lets his emotions get the better of him, simply because he doesn't know how to deal with all the frustration and guilt and shame eating him up inside. He snaps at people, just as anyone else does, sulks and whines and cries just as much as everyone.

And at the end of the day, he’s still a kid who wants nothing more than to have fun, and that’s something his journey as the Avatar won’t ever take away from him. He almost always has a smile on his face and plans for adventure up his sleeve, and he definitely has a prankster streak a mile wide. Sometimes his ideas are pretty great – wanna go penguin sledding? – but sometimes, they toe the line between exhilarating and downright dangerous. It’s probably a good thing he’s usually the only one who engages in his crazy ideas, though that’s certainly not for lack of trying. Aang is someone who gets along easily with almost everyone and isn't afraid to strike up random conversations with complete strangers. He wants to give everyone the benefit of the doubt, and unlike most people, strangers start out on Aang's good side and have to really do some bad things to end up on his not-so-good side. And if nothing else, his peaceful childhood at the Southern Air Temple instilled in him a deep pool of optimism, and it’s this optimism that keeps him going. Never mind the fact that he’s only 12 years old (those 100 years spent in that glacier totally don’t count!), he’s an airbender, with a love for motion and freedom and, most importantly, life.

[Abilities]

oh look more delicious wiki :9

As of his current point in canon, Aang has not yet learned energybending and has barely touched firebending. He also is unable to reach the Avatar state, given that he gave up control of his seventh chakra to save Katara. As far as ability nerfing/depowering....he won't be entering the spirit world while in Somarium. He's highly unlikely to abuse his powers but if necessary, the extent of his earth/water/firebending can be limited, though it'd be nice if he could retain full use of his airbending, since that defines a lot of who he is. that was a terrible run-on sentence. But really, if you mods have ideas of what you want to restrict, I'm all for it.

[Other important stuff] He misses Appa. 8(

[Sample post]
[First Person]

Hey guys!

[ up pops a shiny bald head with an arrow tattooed on top. instead of the usual wide grin though, there's a look of curiosity. and disappointment ]

I have a question for everyone. [ the most srs of questions!! ] How come all the animals here are so weird? I mean, look at this guy! [ suddenly, a wild garden tortoise appears!! danging helplessly in front of the video. sorry, buddy ] He doesn't have a beak or a furry tail. And I haven't seen any badgermoles or armadillo wolves or even a boarcupine!

[ where all his cute animal frands at? D8 ]

And how am I supposed to go penguin sledding if there aren't any penguins? I looked everywhere too! [ щ(ಥДಥщ) ] If this really is a dream world, someone should be able to dream up penguins, right?

[ siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh. ._. ]

Maybe I could try riding the scarecrows. I've never ridden a scarecrow before but it looks like it would be a lot of fun! ...Or just uncomfortable. I mean, that's a lot of straw.

Has anyone here ridden a scarecrow before?

[Third Person]

It'd been the cry of "Thief!" that had jerked him back to reality and away from dreams of smooth brown skin and bright blue eyes. Out of instinct, and too many memories of the war, he turned, head and neck straining to see the exact spot the sound had come from. A woman, hair mussed and shock all on her face, was pointing, pointing north towards a dwindling figure followed by a light trail of dust.

There was should have been no thought, no rationalization, just pure movement as Aang spun, determination written clearly in the set line of his mouth and the furrow of his eyebrows. Air currents spun around him, lifted him up, and propelled him forward on his chase to catch the criminal in question. He'd learned about the importance of reaction time during the war, after all - taking even that extra moment to think could have resulted in his death - but even so, he couldn't help but always stop, think, weigh his decisions. It was what he'd been taught by all the monks back at the Southern Air Temple - his heart still gave a twinge at the thought of them, even now - and that wasn't something he would ever easily forget. And, honestly, he wasn't sure he wanted to let go of that.

Before he was completely out of range, he turned, eyebrows lifting and a cheeky smile passing across his face as he called back, "Don't worry, ma'am! I'll catch him!"

Even during hot pursuit, Aang was the model of respect towards his elders.

His optimism took a (not very far away) backseat as the airbender redirected his focus to the task at hand. It wasn't a terribly hard task - there really wasn't anyone faster than an airbender, if Aang did say so himself - but stealing was still a serious crime, and he wasn't going to let the thief get away. He'd catch the man who'd done it, turn him over to the police, and then be the hero of the village for a day. Maybe it would even get Katara's attention. His eyelids drooped a tiny bit, and he sighed in contentment. It sounded like a great plan to him.

But as he caught up to the thief and looked to the side, cross-legged on a zooming sphere of air, he found that the thief was a girl, dirt streaking a face only a few years older than his. He blinked, eyes widening with surprise, and then promptly crashed into a tree he hadn't seen coming. It was only another minute before he caught up with her (again), but in that time, his carefully formulated plan had burned to ashes, leaving him unsure of what to do. She looked tired, and scared, and the inward slant of her cheekbones suggested she hadn't known was it was like to feel full in a long time. Her face reminded him of the faces he'd seen during the war, driven to thievery by different reasons that led to the same result. A result that he honestly didn't want to see again.

"Hey! Hey, wait up! I'm not gonna hurt you!"

She didn't turn, didn't even appear to have heard him as her feet kept pounding against the dusty ground. He called out again, with the same level of response. A sigh escaped him, part frustration and part resignation this time, and with a smooth twist of the wrist, drew up a wall of air in front of the girl, who collided into it and toppled backwards. He caught her before she fell, righted her, and then landed lightly on his feet in front of her. She stared at him, hands clutched tightly around the purse, eyes boring into him.

"I won't give it back! My mom's sick and she needs medicine!"

He'd forgotten, during the time he'd been here, about the darker sides of life. He hadn't meant to, but he'd allowed himself to slide into forgetfulness - forgetting the war going on back home, and problems here. It was a mistake, but one he wouldn't make again. He'd already made too many mistakes, and far too many people had paid the price for it. And though this wasn't home, and his title as Avatar meant nothing here, it didn't mean he could abandon people in need, and forsake the things he had always done long before he became Avatar.

So instead of judgement, instead of criticism, he gave her a smile instead and an outstretched hand.

"Stealing isn't the way to go. But we'll help your mom somehow. I promise."

[Why do you want to play this character in Somarium?] Shiny caaaast. Also, who doesn’t want to interact with an overly enthusiastic (1)12 year old boy? 8D
[Which rule was your favorite and why?] The one about playercesttttttt. The whole point of joining games is to meet and play with other awesome people, not yourself. 8(
[Where did you hear about Somarium?] Used to be part of Som!
[Do you need a promo code?] Nooooope
[Any questions?] Nope!